Disclaimer: All Drake & Josh characters copyright their proper owners. I just wrote this.

A/N: Sorry this didn't get up yesterday, but I couldn't edit it so that it would look right when you saw it. It's up now anyway. Sorry for the delay.

Chapter 2: The Formula for the Perfect Year

Drake paused at the entrance of Belleview. Three long years had passed, and this was supposed to be what was all worth it. He was finally a senior. This was supposed to be the best year ever, and he wasn't going to let Christine and David's relationship ruin it. Christine was his best friend no matter what. Nothing would change that. He was going to date again and get her off of his mind. He'd have a date to every dance. He wouldn't be alone on Saturday night. After all, it was the only way the both of them could be happy, right?

Drake entered the doors of the building and glanced around. Yep. His territory. He was popular. He wouldn't have any trouble.

Mitch nearly collided with Drake as he ran at him down the hall.

"Is it true?" Mitch asked.

"What?" Drake questioned.

"You and the girl from Lincoln. Are you really dating a Lincoln girl?"

"Oh, kind of. I mean, we haven't been on a date yet, but we will this weekend."

"Finally. You were really starting to scare me, man."

"Hey, I gotta catch up with myself. I didn't get to do much dating hanging around that Baylor chick." Drake felt a sick feeling in his stomach when he said the words "that Baylor chick." Best friends didn't do that to each other. Mitch expected him to be a ladies man, though, and Drake wanted to get over Christine. But...there had to be a better way than that. Drake was supposed to be popular. He wasn't supposed to hang around with the smarter kids that Christine did. Although, she was annoyed by Eric and Craig who she swore acted like a married couple.

"Right," Mitch replied. "Best year ever, right?"

"You know it," Drake responded. The two headed to the office to pick up their semester schedules. Drake couldn't even remember what he chose for electives. He did recall that he had to take an English course that was split between two teachers: Mr. Walden and Mrs. Haifer. He couldn't have Mrs. Haifer. It would ruin the formula for the perfect year.

"Here you go Mr. Parker," said the secretary, handing Drake his schedule as Mitch was glancing over his.

"Aw man," said Mitch. "I got Coach Dawson for gym. The guy commands class like boot camp."

"You still don't have it as bad as I do," Drake replied. "I have Mrs. Haifer again."

"The one that hates you? Man, that's rough."

"You don't need to tell me," Drake replied. He sighed and looked up at the clock. It was nearly time for classes to start. "We'd better go. If I get detention on the first day, I'm in trouble at home."

"See you later Drake," said Mitch.

Drake dragged his feet to class. He just had to have Mrs. Haifer for English. To top it all off, it was his first class of the day. That meant he had to spend an extra fifteen minutes with her for homeroom. He finally got to the classroom and walked inside. Christine was in his class along with Josh and, ugh, Mindy. Class wouldn't be too unbearable. He didn't really care whether or not he could focus with Christine there. It's not like he ever focused anyway. He debated for a moment and took the seat behind Christine.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she replied softly.

Drake was slightly puzzled. Even though she was shy, she never was around him. Besides that, she was starting to grow out of it.

"Is something wrong?" Drake questioned.

"No," she responded.

"You sure?" Drake asked.

Mrs. Haifer walked into the room before Christine could answer.

"Alright class, welcome to your senior English class. This year, you will..." She stopped short. "Oh, it's Drake Parker again."

Drake rolled his eyes. Yeah, best year ever.

English finally ended, and Drake quickly caught Christine by the arm.

"Really," he said. "What's wrong? You're too quiet."

"Funny how you're caring about 'that Baylor chick' now," Christine shot at him. Great. She'd heard him that morning.

"Look, I do...er...you know that. That was just, um..."

"That was just you trying to play the tough guy in front of your friends. What's the matter with you? You shouldn't have to be fake to get people to like you. You know what, I don't care how you act in front of Mitch, but leave me out of the conversation, okay?" She walked past him, clearly upset.

Drake stared after her. First Mrs. Haifer, then he screws things up with Christine. The formula for the perfect year was falling apart right in front of him. He just had to be the popular, tough guy.

"What's the matter, Drake?" asked Mrs. Haifer. "What'd you do?"

"Why does it have to be my fault?" Drake responded, aggravated.

"Let's be serious. It's you. For some reason, she's good friends with you, and for some reason she's angry with you. I'm not one to become involved with my students' problems, but I think you're being ridiculous if you throw away a friendship over popularity. Your true friends care about who you really are, not what you do or say."

"Thanks, but I'm going to handle this my own way," Drake replied.

"Fine. Just thought I'd offer my two cents. Besides, I still hate you."

"I know..."

Drake had tried to talk to Christine at lunch but to no avail. She wasn't happy with him. He sat in his bedroom thinking about what had happened that day. Things were far too complicated now. And what was with Mrs. Haifer offering up advice? She hated him. Drake decided had decided two years ago that he couldn't figure her out and still didn't plan on it.

"So," said Josh, walking into the guys' bedroom. "I hear you're a self-centered jerk."

"Did Christine say that?" Drake asked, paranoid.

"No, Mindy did. Dude, there's no way Christine would say that about you, even after what you did this morning."

"After I...oh, come on, Josh," Drake began.

"No, you come on," Josh replied. "You know, I was glad to see you acting normal again, but if you put Christine below your other friends, she's not going to be your friend for long."

"She's got David now."

"Is that what this is about? I thought you weren't saying anything to her because you didn't want to wreck your friendship because you promised her you'd be together forever when you were little, and you've been pretty uptight about keeping that promise, but you might as well tell her how you feel because you're already wrecking your friendship with this stupid need to be the tough guy. What about Melissa from Lincoln? Aren't you going to go out with her? Think before you do anything. Otherwise, you're going to end up messing up a lot. Your friendship with Christine should mean more than this. You don't get what you want, so you revert back to the way you were before you went to New York?"

"Would you just leave me alone?" Drake snapped. "I'll deal with things my own way, got it?"

"You said you didn't want to break your promises Drake. Not like him."

"I know," Drake replied more calmly this time. "Can we just drop it?" Drake begged.

"Okay," Josh replied. He only hoped that his brother wouldn't end up having to choose between Christine and his other friends. If he did, he'd probably end up choosing his other friends with the way things were going right now. Josh didn't want Drake to make any mistakes he'd regret.

Drake left the room and headed downstairs. His mom was arranging a vase of yellow roses.

"Hey, Mom. Dad get you flowers?" Drake asked. Walter wasn't the type to normally buy his wife flowers, "just because,"so it surprised Drake a little.

"No," Audrey replied. "My friend Diane sent me these."

"Women send each other flowers?" Drake asked.

"Well, yellow roses symbolize friendship," Audrey replied.

"Really?" Drake asked with little fascination. Who said each color of a rose meant something? They were just flowers. Just the color showed certain affection? Drake carefully studied the roses in the vase. It was an interesting concept when he thought about it.

A/N: I hope you notice that Drake acts a certain way around Christine than other people, especially his friends. I tried to do that in the last story too. If you noticed, he was really nice to Christine, but he said the same stuff he normally does to Mindy. But I hope you see what I tried to do. I was debating on putting in Drake saying what he did, but Christine's response to what he does to try and make up for it will play a part in what happens later, so while it may not be the best way to get there, I just wanted you to understand the contrast about the way he acts toward Christine and to lead into something that will be important later, and he does feel bad about it, as he reflects right after he says it.

As always, please review. I appreciate it a lot.